SpaceX said Thursday that it will spend more than $74 billion on two AI supercompute campuses, more than $24 billion at Starbase, Texas, and about $50 billion in Cochise County, Arizona. The Starbase plant is described as off-grid, but its state air registration was still listed as pending at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) as of Nov. 12, while a statewide data center permit freeze is in effect. Both campuses reach local hearings on Dec. 9, at 4 p.m. ET in Arizona and 8 p.m. ET in Texas, according to Cochise County hearing coverage and a Starbase hearing notice report.
Readers who want to weigh the announcement should know what each headline claim leaves out. “Off-grid” does not mean unregulated, and “dry cooling” does not mean no water footprint. Both claims come from SpaceX, and the numbers below show where each one stops.
Starbase Gas Plant Still Needs Texas Air Registration Despite Off-Grid Label
The Starbase site covers 444 acres and would run its own gas-fired power plant instead of drawing on the public grid. SpaceX filed a registration with TCEQ on Sept. 8 under the state’s standard permit for electric generating units, a streamlined, pre-written permit. The filing lists 35 temporary turbines totaling about 748 megawatts, to be followed by eight GE Vernova 7E turbines totaling about 708 megawatts, according to The 956 Report. The two configurations are alternatives, not additions.
Gov. Greg Abbott’s Sept. 21 directive expanded a data center permitting pause. Law firm Bracewell’s analysis says the pause applies to islanded facilities, the category that “off-grid” describes, but adds that it is unclear how the order affects TCEQ general and standard permits. The advocacy group Public Citizen has questioned whether the directive clearly covers behind-the-meter gas plants.
Proposed Nitrogen Oxide Cap Sits 1.14 Tons Below Federal Major-Source Line
The registration proposes a nitrogen oxide limit of 248.86 tons per year. For source categories not specifically listed, the federal Prevention of Significant Deterioration program treats a new source at 250 tons per year as a major source, which brings tougher review, so the proposed cap sits 1.14 tons under that line. The 956 Report also found that emissions during startups and shutdowns are not counted toward the caps, and the filing allows 50 startup and shutdown events per turbine per year…